It's done. I'm sorry about the cliffhanger last time. Evil cliffies are something that I've missed being able to do, though, so I'm indulging a little bit. It's fun.

They go to see Sam. Castiel does not know what else to do at this point, everything in him can feel Dean's soul screaming for him through their bond. What little separation there was between his grace and the hunter's soul is gone, broken and Castiel suspects that it is beyond repair. He feels all of Dean now, every scrape and every bruise. He feels Raphael's hand as though it is in his own chest and he even feels the agony of that touch on a soul that should never have known the fire of an angel once more.

Dean's soul calls to him because Castiel's grace is that which sears it even when Raphael is gone. Castiel knows how important that barrier was, knows that without it not only does his very existence burn into Dean, but it links them in a way that is painful and irresistible. He will have to save Dean soon, re-establish the barrier between them before he is no longer able to sort his grace from Dean's soul. If the blending goes too far, if it is allowed to continue for much longer, Raphael will not need Dean to call the angel so that he can end this war and win. All the archangel will need to do is run Dean through with the blade of a soldier of God. The end result would be the same.

So he calls Sam, tells him that he is bringing Balthazar to him and that they have much to discuss. The implication is clear and he knows that Sam will have set a number of traps in Bobby's barn before they get there. The youngest Winchester is not, after all, stupid.

To his credit, Sam does not interrupt as Balthazar talks. He does not even exclaim angrily at the renegade's demand for his soul in return for aid. He just listens and Castiel is forced to remember that Sam is not the most volatile of the brothers any longer.

"Why help us?" He asks finally in lieu of giving Balthazar a straight answer. "You don't like me and you hate Dean, so offering to help doesn't make sense."

Castiel would ask why Sam is making these demands, would ask why Sam is pushing at the renegade when he does not have a hope of forcing Balthazar to answer. Instead the other angel seems to think for a moment, seems to consider the question that is asked as he begins to move as though a little restless.

"As much as I'd love to watch you two dance from the rafters, preferably strung up by your rather crude reproductive organs, you two are essential to all this. Unfortunate, but true. The chaos in Heaven is completely necessary to angels like me, it lets us set up our own little business and get one up on the demons. If Raphael wins we'll be hunted down and slaughtered and that doesn't sit well with me. The souls are just my way of making sure that when Castiel wins and tracks me down I have something to bargain with."

Sam stares at the angel for a long moment, watching as Balthazar shifts around the room as he speaks. Castiel watches as well, knowing that Sam has had ample time to prepare for their arrival and that there must be traps around the room.

"Bullshit," Sam snaps after Balthazar has stopped moving. The angel is nearly on the other side of the room from the hunter and Sam is tensed as though waiting for something. "Raphael will have back up all over the place, you know that Cas can't take him on his own. You want those souls for something else and I can't help but think that the two are somehow connected."

"This is a one time offer, Sam," Balthazar says as he stalks forward. "Do you really want to look at the little details when your brother's soul is on the line?"

"I really do," the younger Winchester says, taking a few steps closer to the angel and though Castiel knows that he has no place in this negotiation he cannot help but feel that Sam is pushing things further than he should. "I'm tired of me and Dean having to keep on sacrificing ourselves to save each other and I am done with negotiating with dickwad angels who are only out for their own gain!"

He takes a last step forward and drops a lighter in front of him. Even Castiel is surprised to see a ring of flames shoot up around his former friend.

"Now," Sam smiles grimly, "lets try this again: How are you planning on helping us and what do you really want the souls for? Try to make it an answer I'll like, otherwise I'm going to deep fry you and let you find out how they deal with renegades. If you're lucky they'll let you live."

"I'll make sure you regret this, Sam!" Balthazar all but screams the words and Castiel has never seen one of his brethren so wrathful.

"Get in line," Sam snarks in reply. "Answer the damn questions."

Balthazar regards him warily for a long while, eyes hard and mouth tightly sealed. For a moment it appears that the angel is not going to give Sam the answers that they all want and Castiel lets his blade descend into his hand. He cannot allow Balthazar to be returned to Heaven, by Sam's hand or otherwise, to create another faction of angels.

"You would kill me, Castiel?" Balthazar actually seems surprised by this fact. Truth be told Castiel is as surprised by his own seeming willingness to take the life of an old friend. He acknowledges to himself that it is perhaps because he does not like the personality that his friend has developed. "You would. Very well, there's a sword that can kill anything provided that it has enough power and it draws it's power from the strength of the soul of the one who wields it. There's only one problem…"

"Angel's do not have souls," Castiel interrupts. "I fail to see how this blade would be of use to me in such a situation."

"It's why Balthazar wants the souls, he's hoping that by owning them he can use them to power it," Sam responds and Castiel sees his old friend nod. Sam has always been the quicker Winchester and Castiel is grateful for that in this moment. "Is that why you want my soul? To make the sword work?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Balthazar laughs, "your battered, dirty little soul wouldn't make that thing suitable for use killing a fly, let alone an archangel. Your soul was insurance against Castiel, here. I had to have something in case he ever decided to kill me."

"Then how did you plan on getting the sword to work?" Sam demands and Castiel can see that he is concerned about the insinuations behind Balthazar's words. To his credit the young man does not rise to the obvious bait.

"Castiel." Balthazar says looking at his former friend. "He's special. He's the only one of us with a bond to a human soul and that means that the sword will work for him. In fact, the sword will likely work far better for him because Dean's soul has bonded with Castiel's grace, more than it already was now that Raphael's broken the barrier Castiel put there, it should give my old friend enough of an edge to beat Raphael."

"Cas?" Sam asks and Castiel feels something in him go cold. Of course his link with Dean would be something that Balthazar would try to take advantage of, and though Sam is aware that his bond with Dean is deeper than with any other human the angel has never gone into detail about it with either of them.

It was clearly a mistake.

"Tell me where the sword is," Castiel demands.

"In exchange for what?" Balthazar's words are mocking, angry and hurt at the betrayal that Castiel has helped to cause.

"Your existence," Castiel's voice is cold and harsh, "though it is perhaps more than you deserve."

He can feel Dean's soul in his grace now, clawing and screaming at the light of it as they try to remain separate. It is not something that Castiel will be able to prevent for all that much longer. He needs an answer to his question now or he is going to have to risk rushing in without the blade Balthazar speaks of and without a plan even knowing that he might die. At this stage, however, if he dies then Dean will also die and that is something that Castiel cannot allow. He placed the barrier between his grace and Dean's soul so that the hunter would not be influenced by such a bond, even against the orders of his superiors. His friendship with Dean has been created out of a genuine and mutual trust and liking for one another. This other emotion, the one that he can neither identify nor understand, has also been a result of that friendship. All the time that they have spent together, the loyalty that they have for one another in even this circumstance, has formed a bond almost as powerful as that of grace and soul that Castiel has been trying so hard to prevent.

"I hid it in a cave under a castle ruin in Tintagel. The locals think King Arthur ruled there and I thought that if they found the sword it would make an amusing diversion."

Castiel nods, once, and then focuses his thoughts on the cave Balthazar has directed him to. The coast is wind tossed and wild, the beach that the cave is located on is one of stone and shale rather than sand. It is cold here, damp and dark, but it does not take the angel long to locate the sword. He takes the blade in hand, feels it respond to the soul tied to his grace. Flames of brilliant white lick along the length of the blade, the sword tying itself into grace and soul like it was always meant to be there. Castiel feels like he could do anything and it takes a moment of will to prevent him from rushing straight to his friend using the bond to locate him.

The next shriek of Dean's soul, however, overrides every ounce of will power that he has and he has reached for the bond and gripped onto Dean's soul before he thinks about it. It does not occur to him that this could be the last mistake he makes.

oOo

Raphael does not reach into Dean every time that he comes. Sometimes he simply sits there and speaks, watches as Dean feels himself getting lost in the burn of bright white that sears into him through the mark on his shoulder. He does not know what this is, does not know why, but even though it hurts and he feels like he is losing some of himself, it is also comforting in a way that he is not sure he could cope without.

"He does not deserve such loyalty," Raphael comments. "Castiel has not come for you, he does not try to stop this. He allows his grace to mix with your soul and he is doing nothing to prevent it."

The words cut, they hurt, and Dean wishes that he could be certain that they were a lie. The fact that the mark on his arm burns, the way that it is red raw where it was once healed, tells him that there is some truth to Raphael's words.

"Go to Hell," Dean hisses, watching as the archangel's hand comes forward again. "Do whatever you want to me, he's going to win."

"That's the beauty of it, Dean," Raphael leans closer and lowers his voice to a whisper. "If I kill you now Castiel will die with you."

"No," for the first time in days Dean feels the need to fight, for the first time in days Dean realises that he cannot rely on his friends to get here before everything goes completely wrong.

All this time in captivity, even before that something in him broke and left him open to whatever it is that is happening, has given him time to think. Time to think about why it is that he is protecting Castiel so fiercely, why it is that he was so hurt when the angel left so soon after Sam threw himself into Hell. It has given him the chance to consider the fact that perhaps Castiel means more to him than simple friendship. Cas is in a hard place, fighting the impossible fight, and has still made time for Dean and his demands.

It is entirely probable that the strength of Dean's feeling for Cas indicates that he wants something more than friendship, probable that this is why Dean felt the loss of his friend so badly. It is something that Dean has been ignoring for a long time. It is also something that drives him to fight, to try and push himself from the seat that Raphael has long since ceased from binding him to as the scouring of his soul sapped strength and will from him. What Dean lacks in strength, however, he is making up for with will and every part of him shrieks at the archangel, every part of him is screaming for the ability to kill the archangel.

"Raphael," he recognises the gravel of the voice, is disorientated by the way that all of him sings at the sound of his friend's voice. Even though his soul is singing, however, this is the last place that Dean would have wanted to see his friend. This is not the way that he wants this to play out.

"Hello, Castiel."

Umm, another cliffie... Please don't hurt me! -ducks flying objects-

Artemis